Saturday, January 17, 2015

The Scam of the Mysterious Adventurers

I have long since come to the conclusion that the "rat
menace" is actually an elaborate scheme to defraud the town of its money.
The warning signs are all there, so clear as day that I wonder why anyone else
hasn't caught on yet.

First, these "adventurers" that mysteriously
appear out of nowhere, dressed in exactly the same attire, all so coincidentally
mute. They'll approach me to be "briefed" on the rat problem, but
many simply skip through my introduction as if they've heard it before. I
suppose they must have, for immediately, without even doing any prior research,
they know where to head in order to hunt rats.

It's almost as if they have some magic arrow that points
them in the correct direction.

Then, as quickly as they leave, they'll return with evidence
of their successful eradication campaign. Interestingly, the proof is always 50
rat tails, not one more, not one less. Not rat pelts, nor complete carcasses,
always rat tails. And once they collect the reward, they'll never appear before
me ever again, even though the bounty still remains.

It's clearly a scam, isn't it? For all we know, they could
literally be farming rats somewhere right outside of town.

The joke's on them, though. I've managed to convince these
adventurers to accept most of their bounty in the form of an entirely imaginary
reward. It's not money, or weapons, or any real or physical material. Yet for
some reason, they all seem exceptionally delighted to be informed that they
have received 'XP'...